Category: travel

As detailed in this post from Oliver Hurley at The Guardian’s Word of Mouth blog, the British on holiday seem to love overindulging on familiar, mediocre food as much as many Americans do:

My most recent experience of the hotel buffet was in Mallorca and, based on previous experience, it was an entirely typical one. Across the seven nights I was there, the food was a stodgy best of British circa 1978: chicken, mashed potato, assorted cold meats and cheeses, halves of jacket potatoes dripping in butter, burgers. Even on a day that reached 30C [86ºF] there was beef stew on offer, and to reassure diners that they had not strayed far gastronomically (even if they were 1,200 miles from home), there was plenty of tomato ketchup and HP sauce among the condiments.

I’m as much a fan of retro-tinged comfort food as the next short-hauler and I’ve probably never eaten so many outsize meals in a single week; buffets are, by their very nature, an invitation to gluttony. I saw the most bizarre combinations of food and the most indulgent selection of courses – although that was often just by looking at my own plate.